Save for Robert Pattinson's appeal to 40-year-old divorced women, who lurk on Mumsnet feeding like basking sharks off the digital plankton that is user-generated content (ie, gossip) on the young

Twilight hottie, there's no such thing as a "sure thing" in Hollywood any more. Not even Tom Cruise, painted "Avatar blue" and starring in a romcom written by Richard Curtis, alongside Megan Fox playing an ex-stripper out to turn one last trick - in 3D - could guarantee bums on seats, it seems.

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Statham is Britain's most unsung, yet most consistently successful actor working in Hollywood today. It's been 12 years since Statham was hired by director Guy Ritchie to play the part of East-End tough nut "Bacon" in Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, and of the 23 films he's made since, you'd be hard pressed to find one that hasn't made a profit. He's the Warren Buffett of the big screen; a nervous studio exec's cast-iron talisman for a healthy return on a hefty investment.

Of course, despite being financially very successful, the variety of films Statham has been making isn't exactly the type to turn up on an Academy Awards short list. Not yet, anyway. The Transporter, Crank: High Voltage, Mean Machine, The Bank Job, Death Race - you only need glance at the titles to work out that Statham has made a wedge for himself by being Britain's best bare-knuckle badass - truly cinema's last action hero.

Rambo, The Dirty Dozen and Cocoon - on steroids. "It was the first time - ever - that I've turned up on set and felt like a pussy," admits Statham when asked to weigh up the sheer volume of testosterone on the bill. "Only Sly could bring all those legends together. It's strange to know they could tear you apart with their bare hands, but they are all so friendly - great mates to have in your back pocket."

Next year, though, there's to be a sea change. The 37-year-old, Shirebrook-born actor isn't going to be stopping his bread-and-butter movies that go "ka-boom", but for the first time in his career, he's landed a role that, he admits, will allow him to try out some "arty-farty stuff". In The Killer Elite, co-starring Clive Owen and Robert De Niro, Statham finally gets to test himself as an actor, rather than just making hay by playing the punchbag with a good grin. "Those guys you can really bounce off - improvise - do something with a little more depth," he explains about his time filming the movie in Australia earlier this summer. "And Bobby De Niro - it doesn't get much better than that. Most of the time I'll have hairdressers cast opposite me. Now it's Oscar winners."